Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Comedy of errors makes it way towards tragedy

As Chelsea move towards the end of the season they are in an interesting position with their potential transfer ban, as it could be the best thing to happen to the club in a very long time.

Chelsea could very possibly finish this season losing one of the best players in club history, out of the Champions League for a second straight year, without a single trophy and having perfectly shot in the head a fantastic reputation for success almost 15 years in the making. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is how the impact of all this will be made even cloudier by FIFA deciding to take a more staunch approach to transfer bans than in previous years, and putting and the west London club in the crosshairs of their political posturing.

Chelsea are likely to get a two window transfer ban and lose their best player while not being able to replace him. Bear with me, it could be the best thing to happen to the club in years.

Though on many occasions in this column I have discussed how Chelsea don’t have the same amount of talent as much of their competition, a lack of talent and players is not Chelsea’s issue. The problem plaguing west London’s proudest club and the English capital’s only Champions League winning club is the absence of an ounce of direction within the club.

Not one. Not for the players, not for the manager and not for the management of the team. This makes it ever harder to compete in an increasingly professional and metric-driven field where mistakes and indecision are punished more than ever before.

Too often things are simplified down to other clubs having more money than Chelsea now. That is insulting both to them and Chelsea.

The Blues’ success did not come about because they were richer than many other sides, but because their purchases were well-scouted and made to perfection. Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole did not all pick Chelsea only because of the money. They also bought into the remarkable vision and ambition presented to them.

More recently, players of equal measure are not now picking Manchester City simply because they have more money than the Blues. They have more vision, ambition and professionalism as well.

Manchester City is the sort of place where high-minded football professionals and footballers can meet as one to pursue next level goals. They are not firing coaches left and right and changing direction with the wind. They have a director and a manager so in sync they could represent their country at the Olympics, if necessary.

This is what Chelsea lack, and it is reflected in the squad. The squad is a haphazard array of overly expensive squad players with low ceilings.

Why bother paying well upwards of £100 million in total for Davide Zappacosta, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Alvaro Morata, Danny Drinkwater and Micky Batshuayi for literally not one of them to make an impression on the team within 2-3 years of their purchase? It stinks of poor management and planning.

That money could very well have gone into a Paulo Dybala or Philippe Coutinho. Chelsea could have purchased a Robert Lewandowski or Frankie De Jong with that money, and actually helped improve the team instead of slowly and humiliatingly drifting backwards.

One single, excellent signing made after precise scouting and perfect negotiations would help keep Chelsea relevant as opposed to out of the top-four. At the moment, would you suggest Chelsea belong in that class?

The Premier League often speaks of a big six, but if it were retracted to four, would you not leave Chelsea out of that? Of course you would. Manchester City, United, Liverpool, Tottenham and now even Arsenal appear to finally be moving in the right direction. Both north London neighbors possess bigger stadiums and will soon have larger financial footprints. Tottenham did, after all, just set a record profit.

Chelsea are too confused and ridiculously brittle in their mentality and fortitude to compete at the top level. They have somehow managed to drag themselves at maximum expense to the best of the middle.

Both Atletico Madrid and Tottenham have in recent years shown exactly what stability and a plan can provide for an undersized club while competing with larger and wealthier rivals. They provided a free and easy blueprint for Chelsea to follow and yet, for some reason, the Blues have decided to completely ignore this.

Their rivals continue to evolve and make headway while remaining competitive. Chelsea have decided to stick their heads in the most expensive sand trap in the history of football. It is a truly absurd tragic comedy to watch week in and week out.